Bloomberg Philanthropies selects Detroit for grant

Detroit is one of seven cities in the U.S., Canada and Israel to be awarded a grant of up to $1.5 million from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's foundation for changing the way city government services are delivered.

Detroit and the other cities can receive grants of up to $500,000 annually for three years for designing and implementing better ways of delivering services to residents.

The grants will fund an "innovation team" at City Hall to achieve the program's goal of changing the way municipal governments tackle a city's most challenging problems, according to Bloomberg Philanthropies.

"I am happy to welcome the Bloomberg Innovation team into our city to help create new ideas to better the lives of Detroiters across our city," Mayor Mike Duggan said Thursday in a statement.

Bloomberg Philanthropies started the initiative in 2012 with programs in Atlanta, Chicago, Louisville, Memphis and New Orleans that are credited with decreasing homelessness, youth violence and stimulating economic growth, according to the foundation's website.

Eleven other U.S. cities, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, were added to the "innovation team" in 2014.

The third round of grant funding for Detroit and the other six cities was announced Thursday.